Exceptionally
nice condition inside and out, 2 owner car originally from CA, appears
to never have been in the rain, very well optioned and a great color
combo! Just inspected and service by a Lotus dealer, all recalls
performed, ready to drive and enjoy! A 2-owner original paint
car,
like new inside and out. They don't come
any nicer!

Warranty:

Available

Keys-Remotes:

2 keys - 2 remotes

Books-Manuals:

Yes + window sticker

Price:

$37,500.00 /obo.

*Click
on the above
thumbnails
to view full screen photographs of this automobile. More photos
available upon request.

We seem to have been promising a fully certified, street-legal Lotus
Elise for years. That's because Lotus for years has been saying it's
coming to the U.S.—since 1997, in fact. Well, now at last it is ready.
The first federalized Elises should arrive in May.

The good news is that it is a better car than the spartan original. It
has 60 percent more power but is only 14 percent heavier than the
existing European model. It has the airbags, the anti-lock brakes, and
the air conditioning that the car has lacked until now. Perhaps not so
good is its sticker of $39,000. It's a fair price for the nearest thing
to a modern race car you can drive on the road but will discourage
those who see it as a sexy little boulevard cruiser.

That's probably just as well because the Lotus Elise, as a closely
focused driver's car, makes few compromises on behalf of the well-being
of a passenger. You sit on a thinly padded seat in an aluminum tub (the
Elise chassis is made from aluminum extrusions bonded together). There
is hardly enough room for two, so the driver's seat is adjustable but
the passenger's is fixed—and the cockpit space on the right-hand side
is just two-thirds of that provided for the driver.

Elise enthusiasts—there are at least 60 owners of race-spec cars in the
U.S. as of this writing—will accept that what it lacks in comfort is
compensated for by the performance and handling. Lotus claims the
federalized Elise will do 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and run to 141
mph; prototypes ran to nearly 150 mph. Not much this side of an exotic
supercar will keep up with it on a racetrack.

The Elise was designed around the 1.8-liter Rover K-series engine found
in the mid-engined MGF sports car, a good choice in 1996 but now
getting on in years. Rover has never certified that engine for the
U.S., and Lotus judged that a federal emissions program would be too
expensive to undertake alone. It looked around for suitable
alternatives, engines that were already in use in the U.S. Roger
Becker, a veteran development engineer who started at Lotus under Colin
Chapman, the company's founder, has been leading the U.S.-certification
project. He picked up an old relationship with Toyota (which for three
years in the 1980s owned 21 percent of Lotus) and secured a deal to use
the 1.8-liter VVTL-i (variable valve timing and lift) engine from the
Celica GT-S and its accompanying C64 six-speed gearbox.

Although the internals of the engine are standard Toyota (in fact made
by Yamaha), Lotus fits different intake and exhaust systems and,
significantly, has devised its own engine control electronics. The
result is 190 horsepower (10 up on the Celica) at 7800 rpm and 133
pound-feet of torque at 6800 rpm.

We have our reservations about this engine and transmission in
the Celica as it is difficult to keep the engine on the high-rpm cams
as you accelerate through the gears. The performance is more accessible
in the lightweight (2000 pound) Elise, due in part to Lotus's
improvements to the electronics and gearshift. And for those accustomed
to the Rover-engined Elise, the Toyota-powered car is noticeably
quicker even before the cam phase change at 6200 rpm. Besides which, it
sounds terrific, whereas the old K-series and its five-speed gearbox
had a rough and rattly edge.

Installation of the Toyota engine required a new subframe and
modifications to the rear of the aluminum chassis. The
suspension—double control arms front and rear—needed only minor changes
in spring and damping rates to cope with 154 additional pounds of
weight. Becker and his associates were determined to maintain the
Elise's pure responses and wonderfully balanced handling while making
subtle changes to the dampers and bushings to cope with the worst of
America's highways. U.S.-bound Elises will use a unique Yokohama tire.

Although its cousin, the Opel Speedster that Lotus makes in Europe for
General Motors, has anti-lock brakes, Lotus has traditionally regarded
both ABS and a brake booster as unnecessary frills for the Elise. But
its engineers accept that pedal assistance is needed when vehicle
weight rises above 1800 pounds, and that ABS is becoming a standard
safety feature of most performance cars. Therefore, the challenge was
to provide this latest Elise with ABS that would not intervene during
intentional hard braking until the limit of front-tire grip. For the
same reason, there is no electronic traction control nor is any
planned. The steering does not have, or need, power assistance,
although Lotus accepts that some customers may expect it.

Externally, there are few changes from the Elise that was launched in
2000. Identifiers include the twin tailpipes and the slightly raised
grille on the front hood to clear the new brake booster. Inside,
though, the car has had an upgrade with a new and more shapely
instrument panel, injection molded rather than vacuum formed, which
accommodates the passenger airbag. The radio is now at its center, and
most of the ugly screw heads that were peppered around the earlier
cockpit have been concealed. The convertible top is from the '00 car:
easier to erect than the original but still a fairly primitive affair.

We drove a prototype U.S. Elise on the test track and on country roads
around the Lotus factory in Norfolk, England. As we first wrote of a
similar exercise with the original Elise, it's a hoot. For pure
sports-car thrills, it's in the top five most-entertaining cars
available. The same comments apply to the federalized Elise, which,
although it is 450 pounds heavier than the original, is faster and
better equipped but still has nearly perfect balance. It is the best
Elise yet, and for Americans wanting a race car for the road, it's
worth the six-year wait. Lotus Cars USA, which has been subsisting on
the sale of a handful of Esprits a year, hopes to expand its annual
sales to 2500.

Picks: This Elise
is in exceptionally nice condition inside and out and reflects the very low mileage, the

paint & body are excellent with no real flaws to mention, the interior leather and carpeting show like new,

as do the seats and glass. There are no cracks in the dash, the engine compartment is highly detailed to

like new standards and the rims are unmarked. It has obviously been very well maintained as well as

garage kept since new. The front tires have deep tread the rears are brand new in 03/2017. All recalls

have been performed and the service is up to date. If I had to nitpick something I honestly would be hard

pressed - I suppose fixing the one broken keyless remote would be it. Other than that the car is like new

inside and out with nothing else to reasonably fault. Photos show the condition so please request and

Conditions of Sale: All
vehicles presented on this site are represented as accurately as
possible and to the best of our knowledge at the time of listing.
While every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of
the above data, mistakes regarding hp ratings, options, etc. can be
made. Content is based on inspection, research, or information
provided from previous owners and any paperwork that may be available
to us. We make every effort possible to ensure all of the
equipment on our cars is in working order, unless noted as
non-operational in the listing above. It is the customer’s sole
responsibility to verify the accuracy of any claims to originality,
history, equipment, or other information provided. BMI is not
responsible for misprints in content or pricing. I have also done
my best to be very honest and very critical about the cosmetic and
mechanical condition of this vehicle. Of course, it is not possible to
pick-up on every single detail or flaw. Please keep expectations
realistic as this is a pre-owned vehicle, and I have personally found
blemishes on brand new undriven vehicles. If you are an exceptionally
detailed oriented person, please contact me to verify any information
directly, and I will do my best to specifically photograph anything you
request and to answer any of your questions to the best of my ability.

All vehicles are sold AS-IS unless otherwise noted.

BMI reserves the right to change
pricing without notice or end the listing at any time. BMI
charges a $185.00 document fee for all retail transactions. Purchase deposits given on vehicles are non-refundable.Pricing does not include any state tax, tag, title, or registration fees.

*References
provided upon request, or
view our testimonials page for referrals from some of our satisfied
clients.